It has not always been pretty, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are staying in it despite playing most of the season without most of their roster.
But go back to Saturday morning and look at the upcoming schedule for the week of Minnesota, Chicago, and Florida and imagine being told they would get four out of six points against that schedule without Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and using a makeshift defense.
They have not been on the ice for a goal against, outscoring teams by a 4-0 margin, and controlling more than 60 percent of the shot attempts, 65 percent of the expected goals, 61 percent of the scoring chances, and 68 percent of the high-danger scoring chances.
There was every reason to have doubts and concerns about him entering the season given the way the 2020-21 Stanley Cup Playoffs went, and given that his career has been very up-and-down in terms of production.
Is it that a sustainable mark for a full season? Probably not, but it is helping them right now when they need to keep games as close as possible.
He is playing 30 minutes a game over the past week, has two assists, is a plus-three, and going back to Thursday over a week ago scored a game-winning goal in overtime.
They did have a some good looks on Thursday against Florida, but even with the injuries to Crosby and Malkin you should expect more than a 10 percent success rate on the power play over a full month.
The good news: Shootouts are only a regular season thing and you do not have to worry about them in the playoffs.
Have immense respect for Boyle’s career and his journey and everything he has overcome, and I think he has done what has been asked of him over the first month of the season admirably.